May Offensive

The May Offensive occurred from 29 April to 30 May 1968 as part of the second phase of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War.

President Lyndon B. Johnson's partial bombing halt led to North Vietnam agreeing to enter into talks with Washington DC, meeting at the Hotel Majestic in Paris. However, the communists now adopted a new double policy: "talking while fighting, fighting while talking." On 5 May, the NVA and Viet Cong launched another offensive that Le Duan hoped would achieve what the Tet Offensive had not. They hit 119 targets in a "Mini-Tet", sending 60,000 troops to once again invade the South. There was new fighting in the streets of Saigon, and half the city was levelled. The Viet Cong and NVA failed again, and they suffered 36,000 more casualties. For the US, the May Offensive proved the bloodiest month of the Vietnam war, as 2,416 Americans lost their lives at Dai Do, Phu Lam, Kham Duc, Cho Lon, and the Place of Reeds. By that summer, a British news reporter stated that, whoever was elected President of the United States that November, it was their responsibility to end the war by any means.